Fortem and Birmingham City Council Collaborate to Improve Tenant Satisfaction Measures Through Data-Driven Insights

Fortem’s partnership with Birmingham City Council (BCC) is supporting the way tenant satisfaction measures and operational efficiency are addressed within the social housing sector. A critical piece of work that supports Fortem’s strategy to “walk in their client’s shoes”.  

Through a collaborative data insight workshop, with Dave Ashmore, Director of Housing Management, Asha Patel, Head of Repairs and Maintenance and John Jamieson, Service Head and the Fortem Executive team, helped BCC benchmark Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) and use data analytics to continue to drive actionable improvements in service delivery. The workshop was designed not only to foster a shared understanding of the challenges BCC faces but also to create a transparent, data-informed approach to decision-making that prioritises residents' needs.  

The first workshop session brought together Fortem and BCC staff to engage deeply with TSM data and its implications. The workshops emphasised practical learning by diving into real-time data from BCC properties. Through reviewing the data, the participants explored trends in tenant satisfaction and identify operational challenges—such as repair timelines and tenant complaints—that directly impact residents’ day-to-day experiences. The workshop started to identify “pain points” within current processes, such as areas where repeated repair requests are creating tenant dissatisfaction.  

The insight from the workshop will be used to as a springboard for pilot programmes, allowing BCC to test and refine new strategies based on data insights, to continue to target improvements in tenant satisfaction. For instance, the partnership is exploring proactive solutions to recurring issues like water leaks from private properties in high-rise buildings, looking at how to prevent these issues before they impact BCC properties and tenants, providing a blueprint for broader improvements across BCC’s housing portfolio. The pilot programme concepts will be tested with residents to ensure they are part of their process, and their voices are incorporated into the service.  

Long-Term Vision and Resident Engagement 

Ultimately, these workshops represent a long-term vision for a more collaborative and responsive social housing service. By continually engaging with data and resident feedback, BCC and Fortem are laying the foundation for a data-driven culture that prioritises tenant satisfaction and reinforces the partnerships shared vision  to improve the service standards for the resident.